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Matt and Audrey Pound

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Life bursts forth in beauty and splendor, the overflow of a good God, shining and testifying to who He is.  The message of Easter: God is making the world new!

Some cross culture moments just makes you smile.  Like these guys for example.  Someone has to hold those cement beams in place while driving down the highway and these guys have it covered.  IMG_0407  Audrey and I drove with our Thai staff workers to pick up two girls from their home village, who are in our orphan care program at Faithful Heart.  It is always a humbling experience to see such simplicity and subsistence existence.  These pictures are of a small Lahu village outside of Chiang Dao, right near the Myanmar border.

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I have found in my own heart a limit to real compassion.  Most of us feel capable of loving only so many people.  It is not evil in us, only limitation.  We can and ought to stretch our ability to love.  However, being human we will always be limited at least in the expression of our love.  These kinds of experiences strain me because I see more than my heart can handle.  I want to love these people, everyone of them.  I want to do something for them.  When I feel overwhelmed I do one of two things; I get depressed and do nothing, or I find something I can do and ask for grace, knowing whatever I do it will not be enough.  May we choose the latter.  For here is powerful evidence that we can not overestimate the value and potential impact of a single life.

Meet Sarah (black shirt) and Laura (white shirt). 

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Sarah and Laura are both top in their class at school; beautiful bright girls.  Sarah and Laura are able to go to school, eat good food, be a part of a family, and will even have the opportunity to attend college because they are sponsored by kind people from the US.  When was the last time your cable bill changed someone’s world?  They love their village and who knows how they might one day bless it? 

Your impact can be beyond your ability. 

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Goodbyes are hard on everyone, especially the girls, their mother and grandma (the one with the loving headlock on the two girls).  There’s so much love in the family, but they simply don’t have the means to keep the girls in the village with them. I hope you don’t see the poverty only, but also the potential.      Education really is a wonderful privilege and an incredible responsibility. 

One question for us all to meditate on (before I leave with some photos of lovely scenery, and a beautiful woman sitting next to a tired, sweaty guy.)

 How might we use the privileges and opportunities we have been blessed with to bless those who have not?  How can you impact reach beyond your ability?

We love you all and  we could not share in this work without you! 

Thank you so much for your support, prayers, and love.  

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I’ll leave you with a quote from Oscar Romero that has spoken to us in recent days:

It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of
saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession
brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's
grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the
difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not
messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.

6:08 AM No comments

Hi Guys!

We’ve had a big week here in Chiang Mai! Matt and I are finding our ways to contribute to the work with Faithful Heart Foundation. We’ll take you through the week by way of photos…bIMG_9487 bIMG_9557

^^^Spent an afternoon walking through the city running errands and haphazardly finding what we needed! Long afternoon of searching, but super fun to get lost in the markets and attempt to find everything!

bIMG_0359IMG_0358 IMG_0356 ^^^Matt has been designing an aquaponics system—which is a combination of aquaculure (raising aquatic animals) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) to create a symbiotic relationship with the two systems. He’s been busy gathering supplies and perusing the asian version of amazon.com called AliExpress for supplies…it’s so awesome! Matt’s really excited to get the system up and going—he’s even recruited help from Gawley! The point of all this work is to raise fish for selling in the market and, in turn, pouring all the profits into Faithful Heart Foundation’s orphan homes…we’ll also get a few veggies out of the deal! :)

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^^^We’ve already had 3 weeks of language lessons (9 sessions, holy smokes!). It’s been going pretty well, although we figured out quickly that our brains refuse to function in the afternoon, so morning session are much more productive! On the left, we’re with our language teacher, Suvanee. On the right I’m with our friend & dorm neighbor Tiida; we practice our Thai with her & she’s so patient with us! (oh, P.S. Tiida is from the Mae Chaem dorm /see below/ & is in her second year of college to become a PE teacher!)

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bIMG_0325 bIMG_0328 ^^^On Tuesday we went up to one of the dorms that FHF supports in Mae Chaem…a three hour drive through the winding mountains—better have your Dramamine ready! This dorm has 20 kids, elementary through high school. They’re all children from very poor families of the hill tribes, where there are no schools. The only chance these kids have at a better life is to get an education—which means leaving home to go to school. The dorm parents here (with us above, right) are such a neat Christian couple. In the photo on the left we’re all discussing the transition of a few of the high school seniors who are planning to come to Chiang Mai, live on site with us and attend college. It’s so, so awesome that they have the opportunity to go to college. BUT, the students need help with tuition! College is much cheaper here than in the US; it might only cost $1000 per year to attend, but that’s a lot for a poor family. So, we’re in search of supporters for a few of these students!

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^^^On our way back from Mae Chaem we stopped at this gorgeous waterfall! That sweet couple on the left are Dave & Shirley—our house parents! :) They started FHF 10 years ago and are just amazing—we’re so blessed that the Lord brought us to them!

Thanks for keeping up with our happenings! Check back next weekend for another update!

Much love to all,

Audrey & Matt

PRAYER REQUESTS:

-Language learning: grace in learning thoroughly

-Healthy & rich relationships: friendships and our marriage

-Supporters for new college students

-God’s continual working in our hearts and those connected to FHF

11:34 PM 1 comments
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" ---Hebrews 10:34

We are feeling more at home in Chiang Mai, both geographically and vocationally.  Our days are passing quickly, our Thai is coming slowly, and we are enjoying the challenge of adjusting to new culture and work.  Bob is one of Faithful Heart's sponsored college students and my new friend.  We spent a day at his university swimming and touring the agriculture projects.  

Thai goats are a whole lot like American goats...(Mark & Amy???)
In our Permaculture Design Course (PDC) a few years back I fell in love with cows.  I still love them.  Just think about what these creatures do: they magically transform grass (renewable resource when managed well) into milk ---therefore cheese and ice cream too---and ground beef, steak, leather, etc.  Take a moment to thank God for cows if you enjoy any of these wonderful foods.  I would love to work towards having some Salad Bar Beef here at Faithful Heart (google Polyface Farms for more information). 
This is Dave (a friend of Bob's who helps run the university's chicken research project) and his friend Nan.  He was eager to help and has offered to help us get chicks at a very reasonable rate when we are ready to start raising chickens. Hopefully in June!


The top is Choi (delicious greens!---thank you Mary and Ann from the Gardens on Spring Creek for teaching me about Choi!) I am starting from seed and the bottom are newly planted cucumbers.  It is exciting to grow here because of how quickly plants develop.
Our tea is delicious and very healthy!  We are ready to take orders! 
Coffee too!  That is a real picture of our coffee!  We are taking orders even to the US!

Just in case you missed it from a few weeks back, Audrey makes friends wherever she goes!
One last picture at Bob's Friday night soccer game at a nearby University.  He is number 7, if you squint you might see him.  We are always thanking God for you; our friends and family who love on us, pray for us, and encourage us towards love and good works.  I (Matt) have been researching, planning, and now purchasing equipment to start an aquaponics system here (Thank you to our Joy to the World Supporters---you made this possible!).  Would you pray for us and all the projects Faithful Heart is involved in?  We work hard to try to be more self-sufficient and good stewards of all God and you graciously give. 

With you in hope,
Matt & Audrey Pound






4:03 AM No comments
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The Pounds

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Matt, Audrey, Ezra & Sienna Pound
Faithful Heart Foundation
Chiang Mai, Thailand

RESCUE A CHILD. BUILD A FAMILY.

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